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spinney

[ spin-ee ]
/ ˈspɪn i /
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noun, plural spin·neys.British.
a small wood or thicket.
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Origin of spinney

1300–50; Middle English <Middle French espinei (masculine), espinaie (feminine) a place full of thorns, derivative of espinespine; compare Late Latin spīnētum difficulty, equivalent to Latin spīn(a) thorn (see spine) + -ētum noun suffix (see arboretum)

Words nearby spinney

spinmeister, spinnaker, spinner, spinneret, spinnery, spinney, spinning, spinning box, spinning frame, spinning jenny, spinning mule
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2022

Words related to spinney

scrub, thicket, bracken, brushwood, chaparral, coppice, copse, cover, dingle, fern, gorse, grove, hedge, sedge, shrubbery, undergrowth, underwood, brake, covert, forest

How to use spinney in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for spinney

spinney
/ (ˈspɪnɪ) /
noun
mainly British a small wood or copse

Word Origin for spinney

C16: from Old French espinei, from espine thorn, from Latin spīna
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
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